Lottery win? Big inheritance from a great aunt? Receiving a windfall is something we’ve all dreamed about at least once. Getting rich quickly gives us the freedom to leave our job and spend more time on other fulfilling activities. Retiring early doesn’t just mean giving up work (after all, we may find our jobs fulfilling). It means having 100% choice in how you spend your time. It means choosing whether to stay at your job or not. Chances are yo [...]

In 2016, UK house prices are now nine times average incomes. Since the 1990’s, property has become a mainstream investment. The 1990’s property crash provided a great opportunity for any potential property investors, not just because of the low cost of housing, but because mortgages were more accessible with more than one mortgage provider offering 100% loan-to-value mortgages (the first buy-to-let mortgages became available in 1996). The Telegra [...]

Funding Circle is an online platform that enables individuals to lend money to small UK businesses for a fixed rate of interest. Similar to crowdfunding for equity, individual investors lend money through the platform as loan parts which are assembled as loans to businesses. Using loan parts helps investors spread the risk of their investment e.g. when investing £1000 an investor does not have to lend that amount to just one business but can use [...]

If you Google “best personal finance books” or something similar, you will not find an authoritative answer. Sure, plenty of publications and blogs have their lists, but these are highly subjective. So how did we go about choosing the 10 “most popular” books we have summarized? There are roughly 50 books that are regularly reviewed or referred to in the personal finance blogging world. Each of these books attempts to provide the fundamentals of s [...]

Earlier this month, the UK Government announced the introduction of a Help to Buy ISA to help first-time buyers purchase their own home. For every £200 that you save towards a property, the Government will add £50 (or 25% of whatever you save up to £50). The government will continue to top up your savings until their total contributions reach £3,000. The scheme is being touted as a way to help first-time buyers save for their property tax free. W [...]

Peer-to-peer (p2p) lending is a way of investing and borrowing money with a more cost-effective middle man than a bank. P2P involves you lending to or borrowing your money from an individual who may not be able to gain financing through the traditional route of a bank loan. There's also a bigger community element in that you often can find out some stats of who you're lending money to. As an example, when you lend money through Zopa (more on this [...]

At LLB, we’ve looked at peer-to-peer lending to find an alternative income stream whilst bank rates have remained historically low in the UK. We felt that we wanted to take that extra bit of risk to invest in something that will provide us with returns well above inflation. Peer-to-peer lending is still a relatively new concept and its longevity is arguable (it’s been around less than a decade at the time of writing). MM and CS have both invested [...]

The stock market is going through a rough time. In the UK, we’ve seen unemployment fall to just 1.9 million (out of a population of 64.1m), its lowest level for more than six years and means our current unemployment rate is just 5.8%. Wage rises are starting to outpace inflation. The US is experiencing similar growth and in 2014 foreclosure filings hit the lowest level since 2006. It’s easy to think that we’re out of the recession and heading for [...]

Crowdcube is a crowdfunding site that allows you to invest your money in start-ups and expanding businesses in exchange for equity. It’s the first online platform of its kind in the world and is currently open to investors over the age of 18 based in the United Kingdom who want to invest in British businesses only. What’s the fuss? Similar to Funding Circle, Crowdcube doesn’t just allow you to lend money as a bond to businesses, but allows you to [...]

Congratulations! If you’ve landed on this page then it means you’re serious about investing for the long-term and most probably fed-up of sub-par returns on your savings held in bank accounts. Holding stocks and shares as part of a diversified portfolio is great, but setting up an account to hold them in can be daunting. Use this guide below to help you navigate the minefield… Why hold stocks and shares in an ISA? Stocks and shares can be held in [...]